Nov. 19, 2009

Box Score

In the program's sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the UMass Lowell volleyball team fell in three sets to the Bridgeport Purple Knights on Thursday afternoon. The 2009 Northeast-10 Champion River Hawks finished their fantastic season 22-10 overall.

The match scores were 12-25, 16-25 and 22-25.

"We were a better team than we showed--we didn't play the way we were capable of playing," said head coach Karen McNulty of the loss.

"On the other hand, nobody can ever take away the fact that we won the NE-10 Championship. That was a great experience and we won 22 games this season. I think this will go down as one of our program's best teams."

Bridgeport took control early with a 12-25 first set win. The River Hawks managed just four kills, two by Jillian Hadder (Yucaipa, CA), as the team combined for six errors. Libero Allie Eide (Gresham, OR) picked up five digs in the first set while Elsa LeGrand (Highlands Ranch, CO) notched a block.

UMass Lowell fought hard in the second set, but still fell 16-25 to land in a 0-2 hole. NE-10 First-Team All-Conference selection Sarah Coscia (Pittsfield, MA) scored four kills in the set, while Hadder picked up three more. Larissa Niu (Oceanside, CA) dished out nine assists as the setter, giving the River Hawks a boost offensively.

The third set proved to be UMass Lowell's best, tying the game at 12-12 on a Coscia kill. The two teams exchanged blows, matching points until LeGrand collected her 413th career block to give the River Hawks their first lead at 16-15. UMass Lowell led by as many as four points in the set thanks to back-to-back Coscia blocks and a powerful kill by Hadder to extend the score to 20-16. Despite the lead, the Purple Knights clawed their way back into the game and eventually pulled out the match victory.

NE-10 Third-Team All-Conference selection LeGrand completed the match with two blocks, finishing her career one short of tying the UMass Lowell record of 414 held by Lauren Dufresne (2001-04).

Hadder tallied a team-best eight kills in the match, with Coscia on her heels with seven. Lea Freeman (Methuen, MA) compiled a match-best four total blocks and Eide amassed 10 digs.

Despite the loss, the River Hawks finished with one of the finest season's in program history. In addition to claiming the team's fist ever NE-10 Championship and landing two players on the All-Conference Team, coach McNulty was named NE-10 Coach of the Year.